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DOI Artikel:Kleiber, Katarzyna: The images of Ayatollah Khomeini: a confrontation and reconciliation of Iranian and Western art forms
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29069#0180
178
KATARZYNA KLEIBER
which clearly demonstrated the tension between all these artistic forms,
was the art of the Islamie Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent Iran-
Iraq War, particularly the images of Iranian Supreme Leader Imam
Khomeini.4
The key issue examined in this article is the interpictorial relation
between the pictures of Khomeini and the artistic forms, which the crea-
tors of these representations could encounter and choose Rom. Inspired
by Mariusz Bryl and Stanisław Czekalski's studies on mutual connec-
tions of pictures^, I use the term "interpictorial" to name the relations
between an image and what seems to be its visual prototype.
As it would be impossible to discuss all the sources of inspiration
(i.e., those drawn from indigenous art, selected from art of African and
Asian countries etc.), I concentrate only on bonds between the represen-
tations of Khomeini in Iranian art and Western artworks. Such a selec-
tion of the comparative materiał retlects the way that Iranians perceive
Euro-American art: as a whole, with no or little respect for chronological,
geographical and stylistic divisions (e.g., Italian Baroque art, Russian
socialist realism etc.). Besides, my emphasis on Western art stems from
the fact that it played the most crucial role in the formation of the visual
language of the Islamie Revolution as the local, Iranian model of revolu-
tionary art did not exist that timeT
propaganda, see P. Chelkowski, H. Dabashi, Siagiag a PecoZaAicm.' PAe Ari o/*PgrsMasMn
ia ZAe Asiamic PepaAiic ofAraa, London: Booth-Clibborn 1999, p. 25.
^ For the art of the Islamie RevoIution and the Iran-Iraq War, see P. Chelkowski,
H. Dabashi, op.cit., passim; P. Chelkowski, 'The Art of Revolution and War: The Role of
the Graphic Arts in Iran, in: Sh. Balaghi, L. Gumpert (eds.), Pictaring Aram* Art, SocieZy
aa<A PeuoiaZioa, London: I.B. Tauris 2002, pp. 127-141; P. Chelkowski, 'Stamps of Blood',
American PAiiaZeiisZ, June 1987, pp. 556-566; W. Hanaway, 'The Symbolism of Persian
Revolutionary Posters', in: B. Rosen (ed.), Aran Since ZAe PeuoZaZion.' AnZemai Dynamics,
Ailegionai Con/Zici and ZAe SaperpoTcers, Boulder: Social Science Monographs 1985,
pp. 31-50; H. Ram, 'Multiple Iconographies: Political Posters in the Iranian Revolution', in
Sh. Balaghi, L. Gumpert, op.cit., pp. 89-101.
5 M. Bryl, CyAZe ArZnra Grottgera; PoeZyAa i recepc/a/A^Zar GroZZgerh GrapAic Cycies/
Poeiics and PecepZio?A Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM 1994, especially pp. 11-64;
S. Czekalski, A/^ierieAsiaainość i maiarsZwo D^ZerZe^ZnaiiZy and PainZing.* ProAiems o/ZAe
A/miysis ofAnZerpicZoriai PeiaiionsAipsf, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM 2006.
s The Persian Constitutional Revolution, the first event of its kind in the Middle East,
which took place between 1905 and 1911 in Iran, was not accompanied by visual propa-
ganda (political posters, leaflets with pictures of politicians etc.). This lack can be attri-
buted both to purely technical reasons (printing techniques and tools were not easily ac-
cessible in Iran those days) and the fact that oral/aural communication between political
leaders and society was much morę rooted in Persian culture than visual one, see A. Sre-
berny-Mohammadi, A. Mohammadi, Smaii Media, Pig PecoinZio/?.* Comm:micaticm, Cai-
Znre and ZAe Ara/nan PecoinZion, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, p. 37.
KATARZYNA KLEIBER
which clearly demonstrated the tension between all these artistic forms,
was the art of the Islamie Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent Iran-
Iraq War, particularly the images of Iranian Supreme Leader Imam
Khomeini.4
The key issue examined in this article is the interpictorial relation
between the pictures of Khomeini and the artistic forms, which the crea-
tors of these representations could encounter and choose Rom. Inspired
by Mariusz Bryl and Stanisław Czekalski's studies on mutual connec-
tions of pictures^, I use the term "interpictorial" to name the relations
between an image and what seems to be its visual prototype.
As it would be impossible to discuss all the sources of inspiration
(i.e., those drawn from indigenous art, selected from art of African and
Asian countries etc.), I concentrate only on bonds between the represen-
tations of Khomeini in Iranian art and Western artworks. Such a selec-
tion of the comparative materiał retlects the way that Iranians perceive
Euro-American art: as a whole, with no or little respect for chronological,
geographical and stylistic divisions (e.g., Italian Baroque art, Russian
socialist realism etc.). Besides, my emphasis on Western art stems from
the fact that it played the most crucial role in the formation of the visual
language of the Islamie Revolution as the local, Iranian model of revolu-
tionary art did not exist that timeT
propaganda, see P. Chelkowski, H. Dabashi, Siagiag a PecoZaAicm.' PAe Ari o/*PgrsMasMn
ia ZAe Asiamic PepaAiic ofAraa, London: Booth-Clibborn 1999, p. 25.
^ For the art of the Islamie RevoIution and the Iran-Iraq War, see P. Chelkowski,
H. Dabashi, op.cit., passim; P. Chelkowski, 'The Art of Revolution and War: The Role of
the Graphic Arts in Iran, in: Sh. Balaghi, L. Gumpert (eds.), Pictaring Aram* Art, SocieZy
aa<A PeuoiaZioa, London: I.B. Tauris 2002, pp. 127-141; P. Chelkowski, 'Stamps of Blood',
American PAiiaZeiisZ, June 1987, pp. 556-566; W. Hanaway, 'The Symbolism of Persian
Revolutionary Posters', in: B. Rosen (ed.), Aran Since ZAe PeuoZaZion.' AnZemai Dynamics,
Ailegionai Con/Zici and ZAe SaperpoTcers, Boulder: Social Science Monographs 1985,
pp. 31-50; H. Ram, 'Multiple Iconographies: Political Posters in the Iranian Revolution', in
Sh. Balaghi, L. Gumpert, op.cit., pp. 89-101.
5 M. Bryl, CyAZe ArZnra Grottgera; PoeZyAa i recepc/a/A^Zar GroZZgerh GrapAic Cycies/
Poeiics and PecepZio?A Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM 1994, especially pp. 11-64;
S. Czekalski, A/^ierieAsiaainość i maiarsZwo D^ZerZe^ZnaiiZy and PainZing.* ProAiems o/ZAe
A/miysis ofAnZerpicZoriai PeiaiionsAipsf, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM 2006.
s The Persian Constitutional Revolution, the first event of its kind in the Middle East,
which took place between 1905 and 1911 in Iran, was not accompanied by visual propa-
ganda (political posters, leaflets with pictures of politicians etc.). This lack can be attri-
buted both to purely technical reasons (printing techniques and tools were not easily ac-
cessible in Iran those days) and the fact that oral/aural communication between political
leaders and society was much morę rooted in Persian culture than visual one, see A. Sre-
berny-Mohammadi, A. Mohammadi, Smaii Media, Pig PecoinZio/?.* Comm:micaticm, Cai-
Znre and ZAe Ara/nan PecoinZion, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, p. 37.